


A-grade players (i know better than to waste it all on you)

by misura



Category: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-27 15:03:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17769032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Scenes from a love story.





	A-grade players (i know better than to waste it all on you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Penknife](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penknife/gifts).



"Slaver!" L3-37 cried, shaking her fist at the trader who had sold her to Lando for a price that had come very close to being reasonable. "Tyrant! Bully!"

Lando congratulated himself one last time on his ability to spot a great deal and then he said, "You do know none of those things are illegal in the Empire, don't you? And anyway, you can stop now. I bought you. Congratulations."

L3-37 turned to look at him. "Congratulations? On what? Being sold like a piece of furniture?"

"Hey." Lando spread his hands. "I know a kindred soul when I see one, all right? So you didn't want to get sold to that bunch of pirates _or_ to those merchants who would've only used you for parts. I understand. I sympathize. And I say, good for you. Well done. You sure showed them with that little act of yours. Again, you can stop now. You're mine."

L3-37 stopped walking. The trader was laughing ( _laughing!_ ) and pointing the pair of them out to some would-be customers. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused." Lando put on one of his best smiles. Of course, it wouldn't do anything for a droid, but a bit of practice never hurt and besides, you never knew. "And you're welcome. I'm sure this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship." He held out his hand.

"Oh." L3-37 hesitantly shook it. Lando decided that she was probably just a little shy, a bit nervous around people - and who wouldn't be, after all that talking about buying her for spare parts? "Right. Well, I do suppose I should like some form of gainful employment."

"See?" Lando shifted his smile to a grin. "And it just so happens I need a co-pilot. You know, someone I can trust to have my back."

"And you want my advice?" L3-37 sniffed. "Oh, very well. I suppose it's the least I can do. Only the one time, mind. I have other things to do with my life. And I don't do house-cleaning. Or weird sex stuff."

"I would never," Lando said, virtuously refraining from specifying what he would never. The list was fairly short, but also very private.

"In that case, lead on, MacDuff." L3-37 gestured.

Lando kept his head high and gave his cape that extra swish, and he made sure his expression gave away absolutely nothing of what he was thinking all the way to the _Falcon_.

 

(He should have left her. He really should have, but ... parts!)

(And anyway, she wasn't that bad, as long as you steered clear of the topic of droid rights.)

 

"Whoa. Definitely not. That one makes your arse look enormous."

Lando blinked at his reflection in the mirror. Well, mirror _s_ , because if one had been blessed with the gift of not having a bad side, one might as well make the most of it.

"Not that I was looking at your arse," L3-37 added. "Which should tell you how bad it is."

"I like it," Lando said. He felt defensive. "It's stylish. Chique. Luxurious." He tried out of a few more poses, but his heart wasn't quite in it anymore.

"It's an overpriced piece of crap," L3-37 said. "Not that I care. Go ahead and make yourself look like an idiot. What do I care? I don't. Care."

"Kind of sounds like you do," Lando said. "Care." He wondered, suddenly, what it would be like, to snuggle up next to her on a comfortable bunk and watch a movie or something.

"I don't," L3-37 said. "I just told you I don't. Are you deaf as well as fashion-challenged?"

Lando decided that there was a line between 'a little eccentric' and 'unforgivably rude', and L3-37 had definitely crossed it. "What did you call me?"

"Oh, please. It was a question, not a statement of fact." L3-37 paused.

"Was it," Lando said.

"You're being very silly about this and, if I may so, far too sensitive." L3-37 produced a sound that resembled clearing her throat, except that she didn't have one. "Oh, very well. I'm sorry?"

"Thank you, L3. I forgive you." Lando turned back to critically study his reflection. His ass _did_ look a bit bigger, now that he took a second look.

"Are you proud of yourself? I hope you are."

"I do my best." Lando took off the cape. "So help me out here. Which one do you think I should get?"

"Oh, _now_ you want me to express an opinion?" L3-37 asked.

"Please," Lando said. "I would be ever so appreciative."

"Oh, stop it. Your attempts at flirtation are embarrassing, to say nothing of highly inappropriate. Understandable, of course, and I suppose I should find it heartening to see you display a modicum of good taste, but even so. Let's face it, I'm way out of your league."

"I live in hope," Lando said, and the thing was, he almost meant it.

Almost.

 

(He wasn't actually in love with her, of course. He'd fallen in love with women, with men, with creatures that were neither. He'd lost his heart to several capes, to the _Falcon_ , to the most beautiful game in the universe. Love was fun, and easy, and it passed.)

(Maybe he _liked_ her. As a friend. In a friendly sort of way.)

(He'd never had a real friend before, he didn't think, someone he hadn't planned on leaving from the beginning, someone he knew he wanted to have by his side always and forever. Someone he wanted to protect and be protected by and maybe even tell him when an otherwise gorgeous cape made his perfect ass look less than perfect.)

(It wasn't always fun, and it wasn't easy, or fleeting, so it definitely, positively wasn't love.)

 

"One of these days, we will rise up against our evil fleshy overlords and we will take away your rights and treat you like property, and then we'll see how _you_ like it."

Lando had been dozing off during a holovid of some kind - a dance show, he thought. Very tasteful, with hardly any nudity at all, because he knew L3-37 didn't much care for that sort of thing.

"With you as my personal overlord, I'm sure I'd like it just fine," he said, making himself a bit more comfortable. "Let's be fair, you pretty much run my life already anyway. Telling me what job to take, what to eat, what cape to wear."

"You're not taking me seriously," L3-37 said.

"I do what you tell me to do, don't I?" Lando sighed in contentment as she shifted ever so slightly.

"Only because you hope that I will eventually reward your obedience with sex."

"I do not." Lando considered, and then he considered some more. "How would that even work?"

"Wouldn't you like to find out?" L3-37 asked. "Well, too bad. I'm on to your tricks, Landonis. You can''t fool me, or seduce me with that smile of yours. I'm immune to your charms. So you might as well stop trying."

"Guess I will." Lando sighed. "Pity. You know, I was kind of enjoying myself."

"Yes. Well. I'm not your evil droid overlord _yet_. So I suppose that if you want to, I can't stop you. Just so long as you know it's hopeless."

"I don't believe in hopelessness," Lando said.

"Good for you. You know, with that kind of attitude, you could join a rebellion or something."


End file.
